WTO Public Forum Opens
There is need to build a stronger global trading system to face the challenges ahead.
Compiled by staff
Published: Sep 20, 2011
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy told those attending this week's WTO Public Forum that the world is going through a turbulent period.
"We are witnessing a food crisis. The economies in many parts of the world are not growing at a pace sufficient to achieve the fiscal consolidation needed after the measures taken during the financial crisis," Lamy said. "In other parts of the world the pace of growth is raising concerns about its ecological and social sustainability. Unemployment remains far too high and its painful consequences are fuelling isolationist tendencies. We are seeing regime changes in many parts of the Arab world."
According to Lamy, the multilateral trading system has gone through its most serious stress test since its creation, and it has successfully helped countries navigate during the worst of the recent economic crisis. But resisting cannot be enough.
"We need to build a stronger global trading system to face the challenge ahead of us," Lamy said. "And to build it we need to have a shared sense of objectives and direction. And this is where this Public Forum has a crucial role to play."
President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica warned that without the Doha Round, many will lose, particularly countries with small markets and with little capacity to export and attract investment.
While the Doha Development Agenda remains a priority, the WTO recognizes that it needs to continue to examine all aspects of its work, and to contribute to greater cooperation across all areas of global governance. For further information about this year’s programme and core themes, see attached factsheet and visit www.wto.org/publicforum.
To increase the outreach of this year’s Public Forum, there will also be the opportunity to contribute to the debate through online discussion forums. Regular updates will be available on the WTO Facebook page, Twitter and Youtube. This will allow a wider audience to follow the sessions while allowing the public to post comments and to contribute to the discussion even if they cannot attend in person.
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Tagged: sustainability
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